The Stamp Specialist Series - Lindquist: A Short Review

This is a wonderful series of books published from 1939 to 1949, a total of 20 volumes in the set. The first four volumes are numbered, thereafter they are identified by the color of the book.

As one comes to expect of books written 'in the old days' the quality of the book and paper - as well as the writing - is excellent. Prose, properly executed, has an almost poetic quality...

Each volume runs to about 150 pages and contains 8-12 articles on ALL aspects of stamp collecting by (duh!) a specialist on that particular subject. At least one or two articles in each tome will be on United States stamps.

I’ve not found an article I did not enjoy or learn something of interest. I suspect there is also a goodly amount of information unavailable anywhere else!

Perhaps a specific book will have something you’ve been seeking and unable to find. Individual volumes tend to go for $5.00-$15.00 though some sellers ask ridiculous prices. Shop around on eBay, Amazon and ABE for prices.

I've attached Herman Herst's ad for The Stamp Specialist from the January 1, 1966. It reads - "This series of twenty volumes which appeared over two decades ago is one of the most useful contributions to philatelic literature imaginable. They cover almost every imaginable subject: many of the specialties written up in them have virtually no literature on the subject available anywhere. We have the complete set of twenty at $75 - not much more than double the price at which they originally appeared. We seek to buy either sets, or any individual copies. We pay prices based on rarity, from $1.75 for the few common ones up to $5 for the scarce ones (Forest Green Red, Yellow). Send in as many as you may have; our check will go out by return mail."